Aah...Aah

Yolla Khalifé, Aah…aah (Nagam Records/Traditional Crossroads, 2013)
Reviewed by Abu Ramses
ALL TRACKS FCC CLEAN

Despite the label, there is nothing “traditional” about this music. Yolla Khalifé has sung folk and political songs with her husband Marcel’s Mayadine troup for decades. Here she expands her repertoire with experimental, dissonant, contemporary numbers. Theme of the CD is sorrow & suffering – not unusual for someone who lived through the Lebanese civil war (1975-90). All tracks slow to mid-tempo. Virtuoso pianist & composer son Rami on tracks 1 & 2; Marcel’s oud on 2; younger son Bachar does percussion on 9.

Try 2, 3, 6

Tracks
1. Let Me Love You – Yolla’s voice & Rami’s very avant-guard piano - 6:49
2. When You Touch – Yolla, Rami, & Marcel on oud; more melodic than 1 – 6:43
3. When I Love (feat. Peter Herbert, Joanna Lewis, Anne Harvey-Nagl, Elaine Koene & Melissa Coleman) - closest to the traditional style of Mayadine – 3:07
4. We Are All from Clay (feat. Rihab al-Helou, Peter Herbert, Joanna Lewis, Anne Harvey-Nagl, Elaine Koene, Melissa Coleman) – prominent dissonant strings-2:41
5. Do Not Look (feat. Joanna Lewis, Rihab al-Helou, Peter Herbert, Anne Harvey-Nagl, Elaine Koene & Melissa Coleman) - mostly a capella - 2:46
6. O My Heart (feat. Anne Harvey-Nagl, Joanna Lewis, Peter Herbert, Melissa Coleman, Rihab Al- Helou & Elaine Koene) - more melodic; strings lead - 2:58
7. When I Am a Child (feat. Anne Harvey-Nagl, Joanna Lewis, Peter Herbert, Melissa Coleman & Elaine Koene) – dissonant strings again - 5:22
8. In My Wings (feat. Nathalie Guenet Fancois, Xavier Bigorge, Florence Guenet, Briggitte Said, Rania Awada & Franck Russo – Arabic & French spoken word, piano, clarinet, violin, cello, alto, guitar - 5:29
9. Travel (feat. Bachar Khalife) – oud, bass, electric piano; eery, like a caravan crossing the desert – 6:07